1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to configurations for cooking pans.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
Cooking food by sauteing calls for a small amount of fat such as butter or cooking oil to be applied on a heated cooking surface of a sturdy frying pan, and placing food pieces to be cooked on the fat when hot. Sauteing should not be confused with pan frying which calls for greater amounts of fat. See generally, Z. Camrass, xe2x80x9cThe Only Cookbook You""ll Ever Needxe2x80x9d, Rand McNally (1977) at page 136.
Deglazing is a second step in a typical saute cooking recipe and relates to the discarding of unwanted fat. A common term used by chefs is xe2x80x9cdegrease and deglazexe2x80x9d. While sauteing, some of the food pieces may stick or adhere to the bottom of the pan. This residue is called xe2x80x9cfondxe2x80x9d. The fond is important to a good sauce which is prepared by adding a liquid to the pan during the deglazing step. Thus, deglazing includes adding a liquid such as wine, water or vegetable products to the pan once the fat has been discarded. The food pieces are then cooked further with the deglazing liquid to form the sauce. Because the deglazing liquid evaporates while being heated causing the sauce to thicken, the food pieces must continue to be mixed. Accordingly, the pan must be shaken frequently throughout the entire cooking process to ensure that all food pieces are cooked and deglazed uniformly.
Shaking the pan often also helps to make the temperature of the ingredients more uniform and spreads the heat about the pan. Most persons who use a saute pan generally use a forward and back motion. Persons may try to lift the front edge of the pan by snapping their wrist, in order to mix the ingredients more fully. Such wrist action causes some of the pan contents to fall out from the front of the pan and wind up on top of the stove, thus requiring a person afterward to clean the stove as well as the pan. Yet, to cook in virtually any pan without mixing the ingredients during the cooking process will cause uneven cooking, scorching or burning of some of the food ingredients.
In order to catch some food pieces that would otherwise fall on the stove while cooking with a saute pan, persons may attempt to move the pan quickly forward again after each forward and backward movement, making the cooking process more complex and tiresome. Notwithstanding good cooking skills acquired by some consumers as well as professionals at restaurants and other food service establishments, the available pans do not allow saute cooking without significant food waste and follow-up cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,398,655 (Nov. 29, 1921) discloses an egg turnover pan with an over-hanging lip opposite the pan handle. The pan is claimed to allow a partially cooked egg placed in the pan to be turned over by a jerking movement toward the user. Specifically, the pan has an overhanging lip opposite the pan handle, wherein the lip extends substantially parallel to the bottom of the pan. As demonstrated in Examples 12 and 24 set out later below, the pan construction of the ""655 patent does not facilitate saute cooking of meat, vegetables, and other food pieces, however. In particular, the food pieces become stuck beneath the overhanging lip when the pan is drawn backward toward the user, rather than being mixed and xe2x80x9cflippedxe2x80x9d backward toward the center of the pan.
As far as is known, no pan configuration has been disclosed since the 1921 ""655 patent for the purpose of redistributing food contents about a pan in response to a sudden backward movement of the pan while cooking. A saute pan configuration that will allow pieces of pasta, rice, vegetables, meats and the like to be cooked uniformly without spillage, would be highly desirable. A saute pan that facilitates regular mixing and redistribution of food pieces during cooking would also fulfill important commercial and consumer needs.
According to the invention, a cooking pan has a bottom wall forming a cooking surface, a side wall extending upward from the bottom wall, and an elongated handle joined at one end to the side wall. A lower portion of the side wall next to the cooking surface and opposite the handle is formed so that food pieces when placed on the cooking surface are urged against the lower portion and propelled upward near the side wall when the handle is moved suddenly backward.
The side wall also has an upper portion opposite the handle, and an inside surface of the upper portion has a profile in a plane that coincides with an axis of the handle and is substantially normal to the cooking surface. A line drawn tangent to the profile and substantially at a top edge point of the inside surface forms an angle of between 2 and 10 degrees with respect to the normal direction of the cooking surface. Food pieces propelled upward near the side wall when the handle is drawn backward, are directed by the upper portion of the wall to land within a forward region of the cooking surface further from the handle of the pan, rather than outside the pan or near the handle.
For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and the appended claims.